Do-It-Yourself Phang Nga Bay Tour (James Bond Island)

The first stop Wat Suwan Kuha 

GPS @8.428872,98.471693

We skipped temple as we woke late on that day, so we headed straight to Samchong seafood.

If you are staying at Patong area, it may takes about an hour to reach the temple by car.

Proceed lunch at Samchong Seafood restaurant (GPS@8.305286,98.419374). According to google map, the distance is about 20 mins away from the Wat.

Samchong is a muslim seafood restaurant. They could only speak Thai, but no worry as they have menu in English. You can hire boat here to James Bond island. When we were there, the family seated next table  can speak a bit of Chinese and help us to do the translation.  I suggest you bring along picture of the long tail and James bond island to indicate your intention to hire the long tail boat. The boat rental is RM180 for the whole afternoon (exclude tipping).

The journey from Samchong to the island took about 30mins . James Bond Island is actually a local Marine Park hence we were required to pay entry fees of THB200 per adult For information of the fees structure please see below.

Next the boatman asked if we wanted to try out canoeing. The price per boat is about THB500 per boat if I remember correctly. During the ride, there are other boat nearby selling chill coconut drinks.The ride is about 40 mins. We were reminded by canoe operator to pay tips to their paddlers. 

The Boatman then drove us to Koh Panyee, a Muslim Sea Village which has variety of seafood restaurant. We were told we need to pay a small fees if we were to step our foot to the village. By then, we were already exhausted and decide skipped the village and call it a day. 

Instead of lunching at Samchong, perhaps next time we will opt to lunch at Koh Panyee then only proceed to James Bond island.

The sun is about to set at the Koh Panyee.

The villagers is sitting by their boat repairing their net. Even the lil one also sitting there helping her mum.

We were lucky enough to catch the glimpse of the eagle on our way back to the pier.

If you prefer a private tour just among your friends, this is quite worth a trip.